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Some teachers have argued that the Old Testament offers no forgiveness, suggesting that sins were merely "rolled forward" rather than fully absolved. However, this theory is hard to reconcile with many passages in the Old Testament that indicate individuals could indeed receive forgiveness. For example, Leviticus chapters 4, 5, and 16 contain several references to forgiveness (see Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 16, 18; 16:30).
Some people reference the passage stating that "the blood of bulls and goats could not remove sin" to argue that the people of the Old Testament were not truly forgiven, but rather that their sins were simply rolled forward. While it is true that only the blood of Christ can truly forgive sins, it is not logically sound to draw conclusions that contradict other clear passages of Scripture.
The theory that they were not forgiven encounters a significant issue: if they were not forgiven, as the previous texts suggest, then not only would the word of God be considered inaccurate, but these individuals would also have been lost upon their death. However, the New Testament refers to several people in the Bible as men of faith (Hebrews 11).
My response to the conundrum is that men were forgiven, and this was made possible by the blood of Christ, even though it had not yet been shed. You can think of it like a charge account at a hardware store: you don't pay for the items yourself; instead, the cost is credited to Christ's account, and the payment will ultimately be made by Him, not by you. In the meantime, you have full access to the "items." This illustrates how, in Old Testament times, men could and did receive forgiveness.
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